The EPA Wants Fewer|Mercury Thermometers

WASHINGTON (CN) – The Environmental Protection Agency plans to change its regulations so companies may comply with them by using alternatives to mercury-containing industrial thermometers for certain limited field and laboratory applications.

The agency would make this revision by incorporating into its regulations the most recent versions of the American Society for Testing and Materials International standards. The EPA also requests public input on the need to address the remaining EPA regulations that incorporate by reference ASTM standards that do not allow the use of alternatives to mercury-containing industrial thermometers. The EPA believes these embedded ASTM standards “may unnecessarily impede the use of effective, comparable, and available mercury alternatives.” The EPA is changing the standards to reduce use of elemental mercury, because of its high toxicity. Click the document icon for this regulation and others.